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BUTTER 



BUTTER MAKING, 



WITH THE 



BEST METHODS 



PRODUCING AND MARKETING IT. 



BY , 
WILLIS P. HAZARD, 

PnESIPEST OF THE CHADD'S FORD FARMERS' CLUB, AUTHOR OF " THE 
JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY COW," ETC. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
PORTER & COATES, 

No. 822 CHESTNUT STREET. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by 

PORTER & COAXES, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






Westoott & Thomson, Sheemas & Co. 

Stereotyjpera and HUctrotypers, Philada. Printers, Fhilada, 



Butter and Butter-Making. 



Butter is defined by Webster in his portly volume as 
"an oily substance procured from cream or milk by 
churning." If Webster is right, then we are wrong in 
denouncing any " oily substance " as being butter. Or 
perhaps, so great has been the popularity of the great 
lexicographer, many persons have thought they were 
making and selling butter when they produce an oily or 
greasy substance and put it upon the market as such, 
believing it must be butter because Webster says so. 

Our idea is that butter — such butter as would give a 
man an appetite to look at, to smell of and taste of — is as 
far removed from an oily, fatty or tallowy substance as 
possible. True, it may be reduced by heat to an oily 
substance — so may lard, so may tallow and other sub- 
stances — but it will hardly pay any farmer to go through 
the tedious process of making butter for that purpose. 
The popular desire of purchasers of butter is to obtain a 
firm, fine-grained article, of rich golden color, sweet, nutty, 
aromatic smell and unctuous taste, put up in pound or 
half-pound lumps, whether square or round, and which, 
when opened out from its moist, thin white linen wrap- 
per, invites both the senses of smell and taste. The taste 
for butter is an acquired habit, and yet so delicate that it 
is as easily turned from "strong" or "cheesy" or "greasy" 
butter as it is quickly attracted to and satisfied with a 

3 



4 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

truly good article. But says some good housewife, " How 
can we make such an attractive article? There is a ' knack ' 
in it. My neighbor knows how, and gets fifty cents a 
pound all the year round, and has a demand for more 
than he can supply, while ours is slow of sale at half, and 
often less than half, the price." 

The object of this essay is to give rules in a plain, prac- 
tical way just how to make such butter, such as will sell 
itself; hoAV to prepare it for market, and how to pack and 
store it when put up in tubs or firkins. Most of it is de- 
rived from the practical experience of farmers in Chester 
county who supply Philadelphia, the most particular of 
markets, and even send it on by express to New York, and 
get from one dollar to one dollar and a quarter per pound. 
In every large city there are always plenty of customers 
who Avill pay an extra price for " gilt-edged " butter, and 
there need be no fear of the market being overdone. This 
will not cost more than five cents per pound extra to 
make, while it will bring a much higher price, and there- 
fore pay a much larger profit, than the inferior article. It 
should therefore be the aim of every farmer to endeavor to 
make his buttei' equal to the best, as it will pay both in the 
pocket and in personal pride. We believe it is as easy to 
make good butter as that of an inferior quality. And we 
venture to say that it will elevate the moral tone of the 
whole family. We even think we can tell the character 
of the family by the looks of the butter, for the habits of 
attention and cleanliness that are formed by the making 
of good butter will be carried out in every particular. 

It will be seen in the following essay that methods vary, 
and that fine butter is made in many ways, and yet it will 
be observed there are certain principles which rule in all, 
and that there is really less difference than appears ; and 
these very diff'erences prove the possibility of general im- 
provement and comparative uniformity by attention to 



THE IMPORTANT RULES. O 

essentials. We have therefore confined our attention to 
those essentials, and an)' one studying these as here laid 
down should make good — yes, the best — butter. 

CLEANLINESS AND ATTENTION. 

The great secrets of making good butter are cleanliness 
and ATTENTION, in addition to the labor. 

We will now proceed to give you the details how to 
apply these rules : 

Let CLEANLINESS be applied to — the cow-house : see that 
it is kept clean, so that no foul odors shall be absorbed by 
the new milk, and that the animals may be kept healthy, 
so as to give pure wholesome milk ; to the udder, so that 
no scabs or filth shall be rubbed off" into the bucket while 
milking; to the hands, so that they shall not defile the 
milk ; to the spring-house or vault, that the cream may 
be kept pure ; to the milk-bucket, pans, skimmer, cream- 
pot and churn, so that no cheesy taint or foul odors be 
communicated to the cream; and finally, to the butter- 
worker and the market-tub. To all these scrupulous 
cleanliness should be applied. 

Attention must be paid to proper feeding, regular 
milking, skimming at the right time, stirring the cream 
every time new quantities are added, even temperature of 
the spring-house, vault or cellar, proper temperature of 
the cream at time of churning, even churning and work- 
ing and handling the butter. 

THE IMPORTANT RULES. 

Keeping in mind always these two points of cleanliness 
and attention paid to the minute parts of the process, 
there are six cardinal points in making first-class butter, 
and NECEssAEY to be attended to, to command the best 
market price ; they are — 

Proper feeding. 



6 BUTTER AND BUTTER-3IAKING. 

Careful milking. 

Care of milk and cream in the spring-house. 
Churning at proper temperature and evenly. 
Working and salting the butter. 
Marketing and packing for market. 

In addition to which there are several minor things 
which are subsidiary to these, but which will receive 
notice in their proper places, such as proper dairy utensils 
and accommodations, etc. 

Bear always in mind : Frora the time the milk leaves the 
cmc till the butter graces the table, milk, cream and butter must 
be near the tempei'ature of 60°. 

THE CHEMISTRY OF BUTTER. 

The production of butter by churning is both a chem- 
ical and a mechanical process. Milk, according to analysis, 
is composed of — 

Casein, pure curd 4.48 

Butter 3.13 

Milk sugar 4.77 

Saline matter 60 

Water .87.02 

100.00 

Good butter should contain at least eighty-two per cent, 
of fat or oil. This fat, like lard and other fat, is composed 
of solid or margarine fat, and liquid or oleine. Winter but- 
ter contains, of solid fat, sixty-five parts in one hundred, 
summer butter only forty parts. This fact explains why 
cream should be churned at different temperatures in 
different seasons of the year. This fat, oily substance in 
the form of globules is found in suspension in milk. 

By the mechanical action of the churn the envelopes 
of the globules of fat are broken, and the globules brought 
into cohesion and separate from the other components of 



THE CHEMISTRY OF BUTTER. 7 

the cream. By the chemical process the sugar of milk is 
converted into lactic acid, and the bulk of the fluid, which 
was put sweet into the churn, is instantly soured. 

Boussingault prescribes the proper temperature for 
churning to be 59° for sweet cream, 62° for sour and 64° 
for milk. About one-fourth of the total amount of butter 
.globules which exist in the cream escape collection, which 
accounts for the rich taste of the buttermilk. Fresh butter 
consists of about eighty-three per cent, of pure butter and 
sixteen of milk of butter. The former can be separated by 
melting the whole in a long tube ; after a time the butter 
proper rises to the top. It is then drawn off into water at 
104°, and after two or three washings may be considered 
quite pure. In this state butter is a yellow, slightly acid 
substance which liquefies at a temperature of 79°. It 
contains seven fatty and volatile acids, together with a 
sweet oil formed of a mixture of oleine and butyrine, 
which last is a substance which distinguishes butter from 
other fotty bodies, although it is also found in small 
quantities in the stalks or fruits of certain plants, as the 
tamarind tree, and can be extracted from sugar, starch and 
other substances. Under the influence of the oxygen of 
the atmosphere butyrine soon turns to an acid (butyric), 
which is the cause of the repulsive odor of the butter that 
is called rancid. This acid is also found to combine with 
another (the oleic), forming a third, the butyrolic, which 
is believed to be peculiar to butter. 

When exposed to the air, butter soon changes its condi- 
tion. It first gets rancid on the surface from the cause 
before stated, and then throughout. In this condition it 
'is dangerous as an article of food, for its acids attack cop- 
per vessels, and so poison their contents. This can be cor- 
rected by washing it first in lime-water and then in fresh 
water. The preparation of lime-water is not difficult, and 
its presence in small quantities neutralizes the acids which 



8 BUTTER AND BUTTER-3IAKING. 

develop in butter. Another plan is to shake the butter 
rapidly in a sufficient quantity of water containing a 
proportion of hypochloride of lime, and afterward wash 
it in fresh water or churn it in new milk, with a slight 
addition of chloride of soda, say three ounces to forty 
pounds. 

To detect adulterations in butter, of which there are_ 
many, in such cases as cannot be detected by the probe, 
the butter must be heated to a temijerature of 112°, when 
it melts and any foreign matters fall to the bottom. But 
if suet has been mixed with it, it will not melt until 158° 
has been reached. 

The quantity of milk required to yield a pound of 
butter varies from eight quarts to fourteen quarts. The 
average is about nine to eleven quarts of milk for two of 
cream, or one pound of butter ; or, b}' weight, eighteen to 
twenty pounds of milk should make four of cream, which 
should make one of butter. Two quarts of cream are a 
fair average for one pound of butter; this according to 
the breed, the feed and management, the age, and the 
time of the next gestation. As a general rule, cows of 
small breeds yield more butter than those of large breeds, 
and the smaller individuals of a particular breed give 
richer milk than large specimens of the same breed. The 
larger animals and breeds, on the contrary, produce more 
cheese. A comparatively dry and warm climate is favor- 
able to the production of butter, and a cool, moist region 
to cheese. The evenings' milk of cows at pasture is prefer- 
able for cheese, the mornings' milk for butter, particularly 
if the animal is stabled or kept in the yard. Cows eight 
to ten years old will give milk producing forty to sixty 
per cent, more cream than the milk of their ofi'spring two 
years old, though fed alike. 

Milk may be poisoned in the udder by the cow taking 
improper food and water, and the cow not be affected. If. 



FEEDING FOR MILK AND BUTTER. » 

therefore, milk is so liable to taint, it follows that the 
qurility of butter very materially de2:)ends upon the water 
s.e drinks. 

Milk-coolers should never be made of zinc, as lactate of 
zinc may be formed and give rise to nausea and vomiting. 

FEEDING FOR MILK AND BUTTER. 

Suppose the farmer is about to start in the butter-making ; 
he would naturally be very careful to select those cows 
which promised to give not only quantity, but quality. 
It is foreign to our purpose to discuss the different breeds 
or the best mode of judging of the quality of the cows, 
but for butter cows we can safely recommend the Jersey, 
or, popularly styled, Alderney, and the Guernsey. Their 
cream is very plenty, very rich in butyraceous qualities 
and of fine color. If not to be had at satisfactory prices, 
at least one of these breeds to every six cows of other 
breeds should be kept to color the butter ; and if the 
farmer will get a good Jersey bull, he will soon improve 
the quality of his herd. To judge a cow for butter, her 
hide should be thin, soft and mellow, and under the hair 
of a deep yellow color ; her udder should be soft and yel- 
low skinned, well covered with zigzag veins, large and 
broad; her tail at the end rich yellow; the inside of her 
ears and around the eyelids yellow. With such marks, 
and the marks for quantity also, the purchaser will not 
make a mistake in selecting her. The system of Guenon 
on escutcheons, or milk-mirrors on the udder and thighs, 
is invaluable for testing the quantity and quality of milk, 
and the length of time she will milk up to or near her 
calving. The cows which give poor milk should be sold 
to the butchers, and their places supplied with good ones. 

With a good lot of cows, and a bull that has a good 
escutcheon, the farmer must pay attention to the feeding 
and watering. Out of nothing can come nothing ; there- 



10 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

fore to have good butter we must have good milk. The 
cow is ill an artificial state on a farm, highly stimulated to 
produce milk as nearly all the time as possible. There- 
fore the machine must be supplied with the pabulum to 
turn out milk rich enough to make butter. This it is not 
in the province of this essay to say much of; but in sum- 
mer-time the cows should have plenty of good rich pas- 
ture, so as to fill themselves soon and easily and with sweet 
and nutritious grass that has strength, so that they may 
not have to work too hard for their living, and can lie 
down and chew the cud and make milk. The pastures 
should be kept clean of weeds, for they will give a bitter 
taste to the milk, and undefiled by pigs and poultry. 
There should be groups of trees, necessary for their com- 
fort, and comfort promotes secretion of milk. Water, 
access to which should be easy and to be had at all times, 
should always be pure, whether running or in troughs. 
No access should be allowed to muddy, standing or stag- 
nant water; this is very important, or the milk will not 
be pure nor the animal healthy. Shade should be pro- 
vided in each field, where the animals could become cooled 
and be less annoyed with the flies. 

Toward the close of summer and in the fall when the 
pasture is becoming short, the flow of milk and its rich- 
ness can be kept up by cutting for them green corn fodder, 
sorghum, Hungarian grass, or giving them an early crop 
of sugar-beets. It is very important corn should be sown 
broadcast or drilled in, so as to materially help out the 
pasture at this time. Bran with a little cornmeal may be 
fed at evening; it will promote the flow of milk and help 
keep them in good condition to commence the winter 
with. 

In winter they should be fed upon the best of hay ; 
clover and timothy mixed makes the best, and if cut early 
and cured to be as near the summer grass as possible, it ia 



FEEDING TURNIPS AND CABBAGE. H 

the best for a reliance. In addition, they should have 
about ten quarts bran and cornmeal mixed; mangolds, 
carrots, parsnips, small potatoes and such roots, for \ari- 
ety and to keep their systems open. Corn-fodder or blades, 
shorts, middlings, oil-cake, pumpkins, etc., are all good. 
Corn-fodder alone or as a reliance will not make good 
butter. The effect of clover upon the supply of milk is 
well known ; the dry material of it is equal to beans for 
albumen. Albuminous matter is the most essential ele- 
ment of food for the milch-cow, and any deficiency in the 
supply will be attended with loss of condition and dimi- 
nution in the quality of her milk. A cow can yield a far 
greater weight of butter than she can store up in fat. A 
cow may give two pounds of butter a day, while half that 
quantity would not be laid on in fat if she was fed for 
that purpose. Winter is the time it is most difficult to 
produce good-colored butter and free from streaks, and 
the harder to come ; judicious feeding will help this very 
much. Where the stock kept is numerous enough, it will 
pay well to steam or cook the food and feed the hay-tea 
to the cows; with a little salt through it, they Avill eat up 
everything greedily. A lump of rock-salt should always 
be where they can have access to it. 

FEEDING TURNIPS AND CABBAGE. 

The ease with which turnips and cabbage can be grown, 
and the quantity produced on an acre, induces many 
farmers to feed them to their milch-cows. This should 
never be done where good butter is desired. They make 
most admirable feed for sheep, improving and making the 
mutton more juicy ; also they are good for steers and dry 
cows. But it does seem impossible to prevent their flavor- 
ing the milk. If they must be fed, the best way is not to 
give the turnips or cabbage to the cows just before milking, 
but only immediately after the milking is done, particu- 



12 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

larly at night. A little cornmeal with salt sprinkled over 
them after they are chopped up is also an improvement. 

If you have fed the turnips and have got the taste in the 
milk, then, when you put the milk into the pans, to every 
eight quarts mix one of boiling water. This will annihi- 
late the taste of the turnips, and facilitate the rising and 
the churning of the cream. But do not attempt to put 
such butter up for keeping ; use it or sell it within a short 
time. 

Another receipt is : Put a piece of saltpetre the size of a 
pea into the pail before milking ; the heat of the milk will 
dissolve it and destroy the taste of the turnips. Another 
is : Put a teacupful of sour cream into the clean cream-jar, 
then empty the milk into it on the sour cream. Another 
is : Put your milk in a kettle, then place the kettle inside 
of a larger one on the stove that has boiling water in it ; 
stir gently the milk or cream until lukewarm, then to 
every two gallons throw in one ounce saltpetre, powdered 
fine, and continue stirring until so hot you cannot bear 
your finger in the milk or cream. Then remove the milk- 
kettle and pour the milk into the churn. Repeat the pro- 
cess with the rest of the milk or cream. Cover the churn, 
and put it in a cold place for the night, or at least till the 
cream or milk is quite cold again ; then churn in the usual 
manner. Do not add any hot water w^hile churning. 
Another is : Add to every two gallons of milk, as it is 
drawn, a dessertspoonful of a solution of nitre ; or, add 
to every gallon a tablespoonful of the clear solution of 
half an ounce of chloride of lime in a gallon of water. 

COLORING BUTTER. 

It has become a common practice to color butter with 
the extract of annatto to help its sale. This is all wrong. 
The color should be derived from the food, and only from 
early cured hay of the best quality and cornmeal can 



COLORING BUTTER. 13 

this be done. The cow must be well wintered to produce 
good butter. 

As it is the general practice to color butter, we may as 
well give the best processes by which it is done. A small 
quantity of annatto dissolved in warm water or milk is 
put into the cream before churning. But a richer tint is 
produced by coloring the butter directly. To prepare the 
annatto for this, steep it in butter for some hours over a 
slow fire, then strain through a fine cloth into a jar and 
keep in a cool place. When ready to work the butter, 
melt a small quantity of this mixture and work it in 
carefully. An inexperienced hand is apt to work the 
butter too much in endeavoring to produce the same shade 
of color throughout. Coloring in the cream obviates this 
difficulty. Carrots of the deep yellow or orange variety 
give the most natural color and agreeable flavor. They 
should be grated, the juice expressed through a thin 
cloth and put into the cream before churning. 

The best and sweetest butter is produced in May and 
June (never so good in August and November), for then 
there is a supply of rich, juicy food, and the air is pure, 
and all things combine to render the dairyman's task easy 
and delightful. But when the sun has scorched the vege- 
tation and impaired its nutritive properties, and the 
temperature of the atmosphere is like an oven, then there 
is need of skill in providing succulent food, and counter- 
acting the opposing influences of Nature. And still later 
the supply of roots, pumpkins, etc., will keep up the good 
color and richness of the butter in December. In winter 
the stables must be kept warm, but not with confined air. 
The stables can be kept swe^t by the daily use of plaster, 
charcoal, prepared muck, or an occasional sprinkling of 
dilute sulphuric acid or solution of copperas. The cows 
should be put out nearly every day for air and exercise. 
They must at all times have suitable shelter. 



14 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

METHOD OF MILKING. 

Milking should be done regularly, quietly and thor- 
oughly, yet quickly. Twice a day is often enough, and 
should be done as near six o'clock in the morning and 
s.'x in the evening as possible. There are some instances 
where cows require to be milked in the middle of the day 
to relieve their udder, but as a general rule it is a practice 
to be avoided, as its tendency is not to further retention 
of the milk in the udder. Milking should be done quietly, 
without any scolding or kicking or hurting the animal, 
and she will then habitually come gladly for the operation, 
stand quietly and let down her full flow. It should be 
done thoroughly, and as near as possible always by the 
same person. There is a great difference in milkers ; some 
will get the last drop, while others will leave the richest 
part in the udder. It has been well proved that the strip- 
pings will yield from ten to twenty per cent, more cream 
than the rest of the milk ; how important it is, then, the 
cow should be milked clean ! Besides, if she is not made 
to yield all that she has daily, she w^ill dry up sooner, and 
gradually fail in the quantity until it decreases per- 
ceptibly. Cows should never be hurriedly driven to the 
milking-shed, as it agitates and heats the milk, and some- 
times makes it bloody, and makes the cow nervous and 
overheated, at which time she will not let down the flow 
so readily. Milking-sheds are now used on most well- 
ordered farms, as they are cooler, cleaner and the animals 
are less worried b}'^ the flies. 

The best plan for milking-houses is to have nearly th< 
whole sides in open doors and windows, which can be 
opened in summer and make the place airy and cool, and 
closed in winter, and then used as a stable for young stock 
About twenty-two by thirty-six is a good size, with a row 
of stanchions on each side, and mangers fitted to hold 



METHOD OF MILKING. 15 

bran or cut feed. The floor is best made of clay well 
rammed. The entry-way between the two rows of stalls 
ought to be wide enough to drive a cart through. The 
house, with very little extra cost, may be made two stories 
high, for the storing of hay. 

It is astonishing to see how regularly each one goes to 
her stall, as they soon learn from habit. They should 
either be chained to an iron ring sliding up and down on 
an iron bar attached to the stall, or put in stanchions. 
The latter are the easiest and best, though we do not 
approve of them for the long winter use, as too confining. 
A lump of rock-salt in each trough is a good thing to 
keep them quiet while milking. It is doubtful policy to 
give them any feed while milking. Some advocate it, as 
it brings them more willingly to the stall and keeps them 
quiet. Others again, and justly, assert that it distracts 
their attention and they will not let down their milk so 
freely and regularly. It certainly does seem, if their 
attention is taken off from the milking to their eating, 
they will pay more attention to the latter, and be apt to 
be more nervous at the interruption. The salt will answer 
the purpose, and occupy them just enough to keep them 
quiet. Kicking cows, though they often prove to be the 
best, are certainly not the pleasantest ; they are vicious 
from some hidden cause of suffering or pain caused by 
the operation of milking. Various remedies and inven- 
tions have been suggested, but perhaps a strap buckled 
around the legs is about ;is efficacious as any. 

The cow must be looked after as soon as she comes in ; 
and if the calf does not take all the milk from her, she 
must be milked sufficiently after to prevent her bag from 
becoming feverish and caking, as one milking from a fever- 
ish cow would spoil a whole churning, and that would 
spoil an entire firkin in which it was packed, though it 
might not be perceptible for immediate use, and none but 



16 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

the skilful butter-maker would perceive it in the churn- 
ing. Such milk froths and foams ; and when it does this, 
as well as from other causes, it is always safest to sell the 
butter from it for immediate use, or pack it separately in 
a firkin to sell for what it will bring. 

CARE OF THE MILK. 

The milk should be taken to the spring-house and 
poured through the strainer into milk-pans, which should 
then be set in the water of the spring flowing through the 
house, as it will jjromptly take the animal heat out of the 
milk, which is quite important. The advantages of a 
spring-house are decided over a vault or cellar, as the 
temperature is more likely to be even and uniform ; be- 
sides, the air of the house is not so confined as that of 
either the vault or the cellar, and is free from any impure 
contamination from decaying vegetables, meat, or other 
substances usually stored there. 

The question of the material for the pans is not decided, 
some recommending glass, ecirthenware or tin; wooden 
pails should never be used. The first are preferable, but 
too expensive, from liability to breakage, and require more 
care in handling ; the second have the same objection, and 
not being made with care have roughnesses which will 
hold the milk, which, though in small particles, may be- 
come rancid. For ourselves — and it is customary with the 
best Chester county butter-makers — we use the best tin pans, 
painted on the outside, with bales to them ; not handles 
on the sides, as they require two hands to lift them, lower 
stooping of the person, agitate the cream more if they have 
to be moved, and the projecting handles are more in the 
way. The tin pans are light to handle, quite as readily 
cleaned and kept clean as the others. They should be 
kept perfectly sweet and clean. They should be scalded 
with boiling water to prevent the development of crypto- 



SETTING THE MILK FOR CREAM. 17 

gamic germs, rinsed in pure spring-water, turned down to 
drain, and then exposed with the inside to the sun to 
sweeten. For this purpose a bench should be kept outside 
of the house large enough to hold a number, for which 
also they can be piled in rows one above the other. In 
summer it is necessar}^ to see that all utensil^ are cooled 
perfectly before using them. 

SETTING THE MILK FOR CREAM. 

It is a mooted question as to the depth the pans shall 
be filled for setting the cream, and the arguments are 
strong for both deep and shallow pans, those who argite 
the matter generally remaining firm that their own way is 
the best. Those in favor of deep pans, which should hold 
about twelve quarts, or rather deep setting of the milk, 
argue that the cream will rise to the top under all circum- 
stances, and therefore there is less exposed to the air to 
become contaminated or cheesy and form into a skin, as 
it will do if exposed too long. Now, this objection is ob- 
viated if the milk is skimmed regularly every day, as it 
should be. We favor the shallow setting of the milk, say 
from three to four inches, as we believe there will be more 
surface to receive the cream, and the whole of it will rise, 
and less will be retained in the milk from any effort tc 
rise. If the air of the milk-house is kept pure, and so that 
the winds will not blow over the surface of the pans, the 
cream will come out all right ; if disturbed while the cream 
is rising, it becomes agitated too much for the perfect sep- 
aration of the two. 

In man}'' of the butter factories the water is in tanks or 
vats about eighteen inches deep, sunk in the earth, in 
which are set tin pails twenty inches deep and eight to 
ten inches in diameter, the milk standing seventeen inches 
deep in the pail. The cream nearly all rises in twenty-four 
hours, is never allowed to stand over thirty-six hours, and 
2 



18 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

is skimmed before the milk sours. In large dairies the 
setting of the milk in deep vessels saves the washing of 
many shallow ones ; and if the temperature is kept about 
60° uniformly, the deep ones will probably be the most 
economical. 

The milk should not be set more than thirty-six hours, 
and it is better if skimmed in twenty-four hours, as what 
little might be lost in quantity would be gained in quality. 
But the time depends upon the temperature; just long 
enough for all the cream to rise, and no longer, is the rule. 
It should be skimmed before it becomes acid at all or thick- 
ened. Many who make first-rate butter let it stand thirty- 
six hours before skimming; but if it once begins to turn 
partly to water, the cream will have a bitter taste that can 
never be overcome. The first cream that rises is the best, 
both in flavor and color. It should be slightly acid before 
it will make butter ; and in cool weather it must be put in 
a warm place for that purpose. It is unnecessary to scald 
the milk or cream ; also, it gives the butter an unpleasant 
flavor, and it is useless labor. An ounce of fine salt to a 
three-gallon jar of cream, when you begin to fill, is an im- 
provement, and an addition of salt to the cream makes it 
churn quicker. Cream should not be longer than three 
days, or a week at furthest, in collecting before it is 
churned, to make the sweetest butter. As a general rule, 
the quicker cream is converted into butter, the sweeter 
and better is the butter. At the proper time to be re- 
moved it will have a bright, healthy appearance, a rich 
yellow, uniform color and an adherence of particles. 
Sour cream contains more casein than sweet, and will not 
retain its fine flavor so long, nor will the butter made of 
it have so fine aroma; slightly acid can hardly be de- 
tected. It is one of the mooted points, we confess, whether 
sweet cream yields as good and long-keeping butter as 
cream from sour milk. The rule with very many in 



WINTER CARE OF MILK. 19 

Chester county is to skim from sour milk, as, they say, all 
the cream is not obtained from sweet milk. But it is con- 
sidered an important point to skim as soon as possible 
after the acidulous fermentation has commenced, so as to 
avoid all danger of absorption. 

SKIMMING AND CARE OF THE CREAM, 

Many are so particular about putting into the cream-pot 
only cream they will use only a skimmer with holes in it. 
This is unnecessary, as a simple shallow tin saucer will 
not take up milk enough to make the butter any longer 
in coming, and will be more likely to get all the cream. 
It does no harm to skim the milk close, sufficient care 
being taken that the cream does not stand too long, as 
sour milk in the cream will cause rancidity in the butter. 
The cream-can should be not less than eighteen inches 
deep and ten to twelve inches broad, for a small dairy ; 
for a large dairy, cans holding about twelve to fifteen gal- 
lons are a good size. Upon adding cream twice a day, it 
should be stirred with a wooden spatula, and the surface 
all around the can above the cream be carefully wiped, to 
clean off any drops that may be splashed on the sides, as 
if left exposed in such small particles, it would become 
tainted and give an unpleasant odor to the rest of the 
cream. The can should be kept covered only with a 
coarse-meshed muslin or a piece of gauze, to keep the 
flies out and let the air in. The can may be made of tin, 
glass or well-glazed or enameled stoneware, not in the 
ordinary earthenware crocks, as the acid affects the com- 
mon coarse glazing and imparts a mineral poison to the 
cream. 

WINTER CARE OF MILK. 

The winter care of milk requires rather different care 
from that of summer, the effort being how to keep it warm 



20 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

enough rather than to keep it cool. On the approach of 
severe cold weather a dairy apartment should be provided, 
warmed in some way by artificial heat. Circulating hot- 
water pijjes are the best for maintaining a uniform tem- 
perature. The temperature of the room may be lower 
than will suffice to coagulate the milk, but it must not be 
kept at so low a temperature, nor remain so long as to 
become bitter. When the firm, leathery appearance of 
the cream, together with its thickness, indicates that it has 
all risen, an incision may be made in it with the skimmer, 
and by dextrously holding the cream back, the milk 
may be poured from the cream expeditiously and without 
waste. The cream should at no time stand longer than 
three days without skimming. The cream may now be 
stored in a cold apartment. 

To hurry the rising of the cream, particularly in rooms 
where the heat is not of the uniform temperature of 60°, the 
milk may be scalded as soon as strained, which will give 
the cream a fair start. If scalding is not sufficient, two 
or three spoonfuls of sour milk which has soured quickly 
and is not bitter may be added to each pan of milk when 
it is set away ; this will sour the pan and make it rise 
quicker. 

In winter the cream may be prepared for churning thus: 
The day before churning the cream is all mixed together 
as evenly as possible, so that no fresh cream will be in a 
can by itself, and warmed over a stove, stirred constantly, 
to a temperature of from sixty-five to seventy degrees, and 
then placed in a room Mdiere it will be warm enough to 
have the whole get slightly sour. The next day it is 
warmed up again in the same way to the desired temper- 
ature for churning. If the cream when at the right tem- 
perature is too thick and stiff, it will come too soon, and 
all the cream will not be churned and some be wasted 
into the buttermilk. Such cream should be thinned with 



SPRING-HOUSES AND ICE-HOUSES. 21 

milk to diminish the friction and retard the process, so 
that all may have time to be churned alike. 

We have heard of excellent butter produced where the 
practice was to rinse the milk-pans out with alum-water 
immediately before putting in the milk. This causes the 
cream to gather more rapidly, and does not in the least 
aflfect the flavor of either the milk or the butter. The 
experiment might be tried. 

SPRING-HOUSES AND ICE-HOUSES. 

No farmer can hope to make first-class butter profitably 
without plenty of pure soft water upon his place — at least 
without so much care and trouble that it will not pay. 
Pure soft water is necessary for the cows, and it is neces- 
sary in making the butter in all its stages. Those who 
have a spring of cool, soft water on the farm have one of 
the first elements of success ; the running water through 
the spring-houses helps to carry off" all noxious odors and 
preserve an even temperature. To such we say. Build a 
spring-house, as the animal heat can be promptly ab- 
stracted from the milk after milking. Those who have 
not should do the next best thing, and that is build an 
ice-house from twelve to eighteen feet square and deep, 
the larger and deeper the better, along the shady side of a 
hill, so that the ice may readily be hauled to the top of the 
hill and be dumped in. Attached to the ice-house, and the 
one side of the ice-house forming one side of the dairy- 
house, build a dairy-house with its floor below the bottom 
of the ice-house. In the floor of the ice-house, through 
tlie centre, construct a ditch or reservoir, with the floor of 
the ice-house gently sloping from the two sides to it, so that 
it will receive the drainage or meltings from the ice. This 
drain should be slightly sloping into the dairy-room, so 
that the water should proceed that way for an outlet. In 
the dairy-room the reservoir should widen out and be of 



22 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

shallow depth, say four or five inches — of depth enough 
to come higher up the pans than the milk is inside, and 
of sufficient width and length to accommodate two or 
four rows of milk-pans, as many as may he needed for 
the size of the dairy. The reservoir should be built of 
brick or slabs of slate or stone, and laid in cement. The 
lowest end of that in the dairy-room should have an 
outlet hole, with a perforated cover or valve-trap, so that 
the surplus water should gradually escape, and at the 
same time prevent odors and mice or other creatures from 
coming in through the outlet pipe. That part of the res- 
ervoir in the ice-house should be covered with a grating 
of iron or wood, to protect it from contact with the ice 
and yet allow the meltings from it to drain into it. Tlius 
there will be always a supply of cool water, and of about 
an equal temperature, to keep the milk at a uniform de- 
gree. To construct it to act properly, the whole sbould 
be on a liberal scale, which would also allow a separate 
portion to be partitioned off, so that a stove might be 
placed therein to heat water for washing the pans, and 
have room to do the churning and work the butter. 

The spring-house should be built over or very near the 
head of the spring, so that the water will not have to run 
any distance exposed to the sun and be warmed. It should 
be about thirteen by twenty feet for a dairy of twenty cows, 
and one foot extra length for every additional cow, built 
of stone, nearly two feet thick, about twelve feet high, 
with a shingle roof; or, better, a double roof with ventila- 
tion through the open cornices ; or, still better, with an 
entire shed built a foot higher than the roof over the 
whole house, and extending as a porch on each side some 
six to eight feet ; or of brick with hollow walls to keep it 
cool; with not more than three windows, one on each side 
and one at the end opposite the door ; the windows pro- 
tected with a very fine screen of wire gauze on the outside 



SPRING-HOUSES AND ICE-HOUSES. 23 

to keep out the flies and gnats, dust, etc., and on the inside 
with double glazed sash to raise and lower, so as at times 
to control the temperature ; or a single sash opening back 
and fastening against the wall, or made to slide along the 
wall to and fro; or the windows may be long and low, near 
the top of the house, simply covered with wire gauze, 
which would give constant ventilation at the upper part 
of the room, without letting the wind blow over the milk, 
for the wind dries the cream, and dried cream will not 
make butter. The spring, entering under the end wall, 
spreads itself around the three sides of the room, escap- 
ing at either end through a small grating set in the wall ; 
from the spring-house it may be conducted into a tank or 
vat under a shed and used for washing purposes. The 
water flows around the three sides of the centre (the door 
forming the fourth side), which is raised some four to six 
inches above the water-way. The water-ways should be 
wide enough to take in two rows of milk-pans easily, and 
deep enough to allow the water always to be a little higher 
than the milk in the pans. They, as well as the centre 
raised portion, are better made of large slabs of slate, set 
in cement, or brick, or large dressed flat stones, either one 
set in cement ; or if made of rough stone, they should be 
faced with cement to make them smooth and water-tight; 
or if a good mason is employed, the water-troughs and 
centre platform may be made of the best quality of lime or 
cement and sand, which, if allowed to stand long enough 
before being used, will become as hard as a solid rock 
floor. In either case the floor should be smooth and free 
from cracks, so that it can be kept perfectly clean and 
sweet. The walls and overhead should be plastered and 
whitewashed at least twice a year, and kept free from dust 
and cobwebs. 

In such a spring-house the milk can be kept still, for if 
stirred much it will become sour, at a uniform tempera- 



24 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

ture of about 58 to 60°, so conducive to the best forma- 
tion of cream. In very hot weather blocks of ice may 
be laid in the water between the pans, and in winter a 
vessel of water may be kept on the stove to evaporate and 
keep the air of the dairy-room moist. In an adjoining 
room or house can be carried on the churning and butter- 
making, or in a neighboring shed can be put up the horse- 
power and churn for large churnings. 

DAIRY-ROOMS. 

Everything must be removed that will impart impure 
odors or taint the atmosphere of the dairy-room, and thus 
injure the butter. The shoes of the dairyman should be 
removed when coming from the barnyard, and exchanged 
outside the spring-house door for another pair kept there 
for the purpose. Otherwise it would be impossible to 
prevent carrying in sufficient filth to taint the atmosphere 
and communicate it to the milk. Another source of 
injury to the taste of butter is the imperceptible odor 
from kerosene lamps, which have often to be used in the 
dairy-house. This can be obviated by having the lamps 
set in sockets, and a pipe leading outside placed over the 
top of the chimney, which will carry off the odors. Or 
a box containing the lamp and reflectors can be so con- 
structed, either built in the wall with glass front on the 
inside of the house and opened only from the outside, or 
arranged in the window. It should project on the outside 
in either case, so as to be readily reached from the out- 
side, and should have a pipe for the exit of the smoke. It is 
most important to have pure air, and that the milk-room 
be clean, cool, dry, airy and well ventilated. The tem- 
perature should range about 60° to 65°, never higher than 
the latter and not lower than 55°, as cream separates best 
in a cool place. Milk set and kept at a temperature of 40° 
will not sour, and the cream will become bitter before it 



DAIRY-ROOMS. 25 

is fit to skim. If the milk is set to rise in a hot room at 
a temperature of 70° to 72°, it will very soon become sour 
and thick, will not yield so much cream, and will make 
soft, oily butter, which will soon become rancid. The 
dairy should front the north and be shaded by trees, so 
as to admit the light and air, as light is necessary to de- 
velop color in cream, but exclude the sunshine and the 
heat. Evergreens are the best for this purpose, as they 
cool the atmosphere in summer and warm it in winter. 
A good ice-house is a necessary appendage to a dairy, as 
a free use of ice is useful in preserving an equilibrium 
of temperature, and often in marketing the butter in hot 
weather. 

In many of the Western States, where the ground is 
not so rolling and hilly as some more favored regions with 
springs, a good spring-house can be made near a well, 
which will be very convenient and nearer the house than 
the spring might happen to be. The ground may be ex- 
cavated about four feet, by some twelve feet square, and 
a solid stone wall two feet thick laid in cement, and four 
feet high. The floor inside is laid in cement at the bot- 
tom of the excavation, slightly inclining to one corner, for 
complete drainage and washing. The wall is built up 
full width, four feet, and then an offset of eighteen inches 
is made to the rear, or outside, where the wall is carried 
up two feet higher, but only six inches thick, to form 
the foundation of the frame superstructure; on this is 
built a balloon frame with eight-feet posts, boarded 
outside and in, and the wall made as tight as possi- 
ble. Upon the ledge created by the offset, a narrow 
wall, about four inches high and wide, is made on the 
front edge of this ledge, by which, being well plastered 
with the cement, a gutter or vat is made some four inches 
deep, and of course thirty -two inches wide, with a slight 
descent to the corner opposite to that where the water is 



26 BUTTER AND BUTTER-3IAKIN0. 

introduced. Into this vat the fresh milk is set while 
warm, and cold water conducted to it from the well. The 
milk cools rapidly and a low temperature is maintained 
through the night. At each milking the pans are removed 
to the shelves or on the cement floor in the centre, to make 
room for the fresh milk. The water can be pumped into 
a trough which will carry the water to the dairy-house 
any distance it may be placed from the house; but the 
nearer the better, so that the water shall not cool in its 
passage. If it is introduced in the centre of one side, the 
gutter should slope both ways to the corners, and follow- 
ing the sides, be allowed to escape at either far corner 
through a pipe built in the cement. These escapes 
should be furnished with plugs to hold the water, so as 
to allow it to be changed once or twice daily. 

The following is the exact plan of a model dairy-house 
of one of the best Chester county butter-makers, and is 
one of the most complete, considering its cost. The main 
building, which is built on a hillside, is fifty feet long by 
thirteen wide. The room for the milk is six feet below 
the surface and twelve feet from floor to ceiling. This 
allows ample room for ventilation and light by side-win- 
dows. The troughs for holding the water in which the 
milk is set are formed of brick and cement, with their 
bottoms one foot above the level of the floor of the build- 
ing. They are twenty-eight inches wide, so as to take in 
two rows of ordinary milk-pans. Across one end is a 
trough formed similar to the others, except that it is so ar- 
ranged as to receive and hold the water to a greater depth 
than the side-troughs, so as to contain the cream-cans. 
In all there is an ingenious arrangement for increasing or 
decreasing the depth of the water so as to suit the temper- 
ature outside. The water is drawn from a well by a 
"telegraph" pump, and the surplus is passed off" by a 



DAIRY-ROOMS. 27 

drain, secured against the upward passage of odors by a 
"bell-trap." During the winter no Avater is used, and a 
fire is lighted to keep the temperature to the proper point. 
The utmost care is taken in ventilation, even to a small 
ventilator under which to set the lamp used when too 
dark for skimming without artificial light. At the front 
and in each side of the main building is a wing thirteen 
feet square; one of these contains the power-machine, the 
other the needful arrangement for heating the water and 
washing pans. For working the butter a large inclined 
table and lever are used, and the printing is done by an 
ingenious machine for stamping and marking in squares. 
This milk-house is made for a dairy of fifty cows ; and it 
would seem, therefore, the proper proportions are thirteen 
feet wide by one in length for each cow. This house it 
would be hard to improve on. 

If a cellar, or, better, a vault, is used, it should be plastered, 
whitewashed, have a stone or cement floor, be furnished 
with wire-gauze-covered windows, and be appropriated 
exclusively to milk, cream and butter. A dairy-house 
built upon the ground, scientifically constructed and 
properly shaded, might doubtless be preferable to a 
cellar; yet, all else being conducted right, very good 
butter may be made in a cellar properly located and ven- 
tilated. The flues built in the walls of the house should 
go down into the cellar, and by leaving the stove-pipe 
holes open a free circulation is created. In the vault the 
pans are set directly upon the floor. 

In either the vault, the cellar or the spring-house, as 
the important consideration is to maintain a low, uniform 
temperature, it is absolutely necessary to have a reliable 
thermometer; and this should be hung as near the centre 
of the apartment as possible and a foot or eighteen inches 
from the floor, as the temperature is often quite different 
there from that above. A lactometer is also a most useful 



28 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

instrument to test the quality of the different cows of tho 
dairy. 

To keep midges, flies, etc., out of the milk, make hoops 
of rattan, strips of hiclvory or ash, or springs out of dress- 
hoops, cover them with mosquito-netting, wire-gauze or 
very open mesh-muslin — something that will not stop the 
circulation of the air — and when the milk is cool lay these 
over the pans. 

CHURNING. 
Churning in summer is best to be done in the morning 
early, while it is cool; in winter, it must be done in a 
warm place. Rapid churning is not the best, but an even, 
steady, moderately slow time is ; fifty to sixty strokes of 
the dash per minute will generally bring the butter in 
thirty minutes. If the cream is slightly acid and of the 
right temperature, say 55° to 60°, it will require less than 
half an hour. We believe that butter produced in about 
that time — or in forty minutes — is better for keeping 
than that produced in longer or shorter time. If it is not 
the right temperature, set it in a moderately warm place 
until it is, or place the can in a large boiler of warm water 
till it is right. The churn should not be soaked over night. 
In the morning put in a quart of boiling water, churn it 
one minute, then draw it off and pour in a pailful of cold 
water, to remain in the churn five minutes. The cream 
is then agitated until a complete separation of the fatty 
matter from the milky fluid has been effected. All the 
buttery particles of the cream or milk are encased with 
thin pellicles of casein or cheesy particles of milk. If the 
churning is done so quickly as to fail to break up or sepa- 
rate the casein pellicles from the oily or buttery particles, 
the butter will have that cheesy flavor which all dislike 
so much. If the butter will not gather, pour into the 
churn some ice-cold milk. Much butter is spoiled by 
churning the cream too warm. 



CHURNING. 29 

The churn should be as nearly straight up and down as 
possible, and the dash should stir all the milk every stroke 
it makes, so that the butter should all come at the same 
time. Care should be taken that the dash shall strike the 
top of the cream and the bottom of the churn at every 
stroke. If the churn be filled, so that the dash cannot 
strike the top of the cream, the operation can scarcely be 
accomplished. Rapid churning should be avoided at the 
commencement, though the motion may be accelerated 
after the cream curdles with butter. There are many 
favorite churns of the barrel pattern, of which the most 
used are Spain's Atmospheric churn, Blanchard's churn, 
Davis's World's Fair. We believe, however, the best is 
the simplest — the old-fashioned upright churn, which can 
be so arranged as to work the dasher with dog or horse- 
power. 

The size of the churn and other dairy utensils should of 
course be proportioned to the requirements of the dairy. 
In large dairies in Chester county are used barrel-churns 
worked by horse-power. The churn is a large barrel, bulg- 
ing only enough to make the hoops drive well, with a jour- 
nal or bearing in the centre of each head, and resting on 
two uprights, so that it may be revolved by horse-power, 
or in favorable situations by water-power from an overshot 
wheel. This barrel has stationary short arms attached to 
the inside of the staves, so arranged as to cause the great- 
est disturbance of the milk as it passes through them in 
the turning of the churn. At one side is a large opening 
secured by a cover that is firmly fastened in its place ; this 
is the cover or lid of the churn. Near it is a hole less than 
an inch in diameter for testing the state of the churning 
and for drawing off buttermilk ; this is closed with a 
wooden plug. This hole also allows the escape of the 
very last drop of the buttermilk or water when the butter 
has collected. 



30 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

Churn as often as once a week, and as much oftener as 
circumstances will permit. 

Upon churning, add the cream upon all the milk in the 
dairy. 

In Scotland a syphon is sometimes used to separate the 
milk from the cream, instead of skimming the pans. 

Butter-makers in this country seem to be thoroughly 
divided in opinion upon the question of churning the 
whole milk or only the cream. By far the greatest ma- 
jority in this country churn the cream, while in England, 
Scotland and a good part of Ireland the milk is churned 
quite in as many cases as is the cream. Carefully con- 
ducted ex])eriments have proved that there is a gain in 
quantity where the milk is churned of full seven per cent, 
over the yield of cream alone. In small dairies the qual- 
ity must be much improved, for by churning the milk the 
risk of tainted cream is avoided. Some of our best premium 
dairies churn the milk. The most common objection to 
churning the milk is the labor, but power is now so cheap 
(horse, dog or sheep) that the objection has little force as 
compared with the increased quantity and improved qual- 
ity. Besides, when the labor, time and trouble of skim- 
ming and taking care of the cream are taken into account, 
we doubt whether there is any increase of labor. 

Another objection to churning the whole milk is the 
amount of caseine contained in it. Caseine is highly 
nitrogenous, and soon decays, emitting a disagreeable 
odor and imparting it readily to other substances. 

Where the entire milk and cream are churned, when 
the milk is strained it is allowed to remain without being 
skimmed until the cream is sufficiently ripe for churning. 
This point is ascertained when a thick, uneven scum or 
veil appears on its surface. As in the other case, each 
meal's milk is always strained into separate vessels ; and 
although all the cream, when put into the churuj is not of 



WORKING THE BUTTER. 31 

the same degree of ripeness, still this does not affect the 
whole ; and the temperature, as also the variation of mo- 
tion during the process of churning, is precisely the same ; 
besides, the quality and produce of butter will be not only 
equal, but more than from cream only. 

Mr. C. Petersen, of Windhausen, Germany, gives the 
following as the rule for churning whole milk : 

"The evening milk of one day and the morning milk 
of the next are churned together. The former is strained 
•into a tub directly after milking, and the latter added to it 
next morning. In summer the milk is allowed to stand, 
at most, two feet high in the tub ; in the winter about two 
and a half feet. In very hot weather the morning milk is 
cooled down to about 60° before it is added to the evening 
milk. Under these circumstances the milk is nearly always 
ripe for churning when the evening milk has stood thirty- 
six and the morning twenty -four hours. The temperature 
of the milk when being churned should be about 65°, or a 
few degrees warmer than when cream is churned. The 
churning itself should be as little hurried as possible, 
since, the butter globules being more widely separated in 
milk than in cream, rather more time is needed for them 
to collect," 

WORKING THE BUTTER. 

As soon as the butter has become hard draw off the 
buttermilk, and remove the butter with a wooden clapper 
or paddle into a wooden tray, which may be either oblong 
or round in shape ; we prefer the latter, as it is more easily 
moved round Avith a weight of butter in it. For a large 
quantity of butter there is used in Chester county a butter- 
worker table, with a substantial framework supporting a 
circular inclined platform, over which the manipulator 
rolls a cone-shaped Avooden cylinder, followed by a 
scraper, Avhich constantly replaces the butter before the 



32 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

cylinder, and as the buttermilk is pressed out it runs 
rapidly away to the centre, through a tube, down into a 
bucket below. Its merits are that it rapidly works the 
milk out, and uniformly, without the hand coming once 
in contact with the butter, and is cleanly, as the milk at 
once flows into the bucket. 

Another butter-worker table is somewhat similar. It is 
a revolving table about three feet in diameter, with an iron 
cog-wheel in the centre. The table is sloping to the outer 
rim, down which the milk as worked out is carried to a 
pail below. Over the table revolves a fluted, cone-shaped 
wooden cylinder, which, as it presses the butter, indents a 
number of gutters in it, which hasten the escape of the 
milk. At each side are bevelled blocks, which force the 
butter back again into rolls, ready for a new pressure by 
the cylinder. As the roller does not quite touch the table, 
there is no actual crushing of the particles. 

Another butter-worker is made of a slab four feet long, 
twenty-five inches wide at the broadest part, tapering down 
to five inches wide at lower end, where an opening allows 
the escape of the buttermilk to a pail below, and a slab into 
which a long wooden lever, either square or eight-sided or 
a corrugated cone, fits loosely and allows it free movement 
over the entire surface of the slab. It has beveled sides, 
and the butter is placed upon the slab and worked by 
pressing the lever down upon the successive portions of it 
until it is all worked. 

Some use a large marble slab, set slightly inclined upon 
a table to allow the milk to run off as it is worked out, 
with a gutter at the lower side to carry the milk into a 
pail ; upon this the butter is easily worked, and the slab 
can be kept very clean. 

If butter is washed after the buttermilk is all, or nearly 
all. extracted, as many do, it should stand but a short time 
after salting before it is worked enough to remove nearly 



WORKING THE BUTTER. 33 

all the water, when it may be resalted, if necessary. It 
may then stand in a cool place, in thoroughly pure air, 
in order to harden, until the next day, when it should be 
worked and made ready for market. Butter should not 
be allowed to stand long before working, as it is apt to 
become streaked and to require working over to restore a 
uniform color ; it is also apt to become rancid if neglected. 

"WORKING THE BUTTER. 

Working the butter is one of the most delicate opera- 
tions, and therefore requiring care, particularly the second 
working. If not worked enough, it will spoil ; if worked 
too much, it is spoiled already. We will give these three 
rules : 1st. The butter should not be too warm when 
worked, nor should it be so cold as to make working it 
difficult. Dipping the ladle into cold water, if the butter 
in the bowl is warm enough to admit of putting the ladle 
through the whole mass without difficulty and dividing 
it without crumbling, and still hard enough to cut clean 
and smooth, not adhering to the ladle at all, then it is in 
right condition to work. 2d. It should be worked with 
careful and gentle, yet telling, pressure, and not by mash- 
ings and grindings against the sides of the bowl. 3d. The 
butter should not be finally worked until it is dry. 

The butter should never come in contact with the hand, 
or as little as possible, as the hand renders it oily or 
greasy, and takes away the firm beauty of well-made 
butter. The butter having been put into the tray, the 
buttermilk is pressed out in a careful and gentle manner 
with a hard-wood clapper or ladle, turned over and over 
in the process, deep gashes being cut with the sharp edge 
of the ladle all through it, until the milk is all out and 
the air-bubbles are broken ; then it is spread out, and one 
or one and one-eighth of an ounce of finest and best qual- 
ity of salt to the pound sprinkled over it and lightly 



34 



BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 



worked in. If for immediate use or marketing, a mucli 
less quantity of salt is better. The rules for salting vary 
with the taste of the maker or his customers. Some say 
one ounce to three pounds, others one dessertspoonful to 
the pound, others a teacupful to six pounds, others one 
pint to fifteen pounds ; but practice and taste are the usual 
guides. It must be remembered, too much of it destroys 
or overpowers the fine flavor and delicate aroma of the 
best butter. About one pound of salt to twenty pounds 
of butter is a fair average amount. It is then again partly 
spread out in the tray, and the tray is stood up on its edge 
in a cool place over-night, to allow the salt to thoroughly 
combine with the butter and any milk that may remain 
to drain off. In the morning it is worked over thoroughly 
with the paddle in one hand and a clean cloth soaked in 
ice-water in the other; the butter is flattened out and 
" sopped " with the cloth until every particle of milk or 
water is gathered out. The cloth is constantly washed in 
ice-water and wrung out during the process. It ought 
not to be Avorked long enough to heat it or break down 
the grain of the butter or make it waxy, and two — some 
put four — ounces of ground white sugar to ten pounds of 
butter are worked in, though many think the sugar is un- 
necessary. But sugar is a good preservative, and it tends 
to remove any bitterness of taste in the butter. 

We give another receipt, where it is to be kept for 
months ; this composition will be found more valuable 
than salt alone : Take of saltpetre one part, of loaf-sugar 
one part, of fine rock-salt two parts ; beat the mass to a 
fine powder, and use one ounce of the composition to a 
pound of butter. This will give it a peculiar rich flavor, 
but it should not be used before two weeks old. Butter is 
often injured by using too much salt in preserving it ; but 
this composition renders it unnecessary to salt to excess. 
For immediate use, salt alone is preferable. 



WASHING BUTTER. 35 

We have spoken of the importance of using only the 
best salt ; the following is a good test before using it : Dis- 
solve a little in a glass tumbler; if the brine formed is 
clear and free from bitter taste, the salt is good ; if, on the 
contrary, it is of a milky appearance, leaves any sediment 
or throAvs scum to the surface, it should be rejected. 

There are times when the butter comes it comes soft 
and Avarm, and is difficult to take out. Then the milk 
can be drawn off and the churn half filled with ice-cold 
milk or pure ice-water, and churned until the butter 
hardens. If the ice disappears before this takes place, 
then it must be renewed. If the butter comes rather 
warm, put in twice the salt you usually do, work your 
butter just enough to mix the salt Avell through it, and set 
it away in a cool place for twenty-four hours, then take it 
up and work it over ; much of the salt will be dissolved 
and work out. 

In a dairy the yield of milk from cows longer or shorter 
time in profit will yield cream of different qualities ; also, 
in skimming the cream some of it Avill be the first or 
richest and some of it will be later skimmings. Now, it 
it is hardly probable this varied cream will all yield butter 
at the same moment, or yield all there is in it ; therefore 
often when the butter has come and is taken out, a further 
churning Avill yield an amount sufficient to pay for the 
extra labor. 

We have said the best quality of salt, as some salt will 
give an unpleasant flavor to the butter and will not keep 
the butter so well. Ashton's Liverpool Dairy and the 
Onondaga Salt Company's are the best. 

WASHING BUTTER. 

We have said nothing about washing the butter, as 
many do, because we never wash our own, believing that 
all the buttermilk that is necessary can be worked out 



36 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

without destroying the grain of the butter; also that 
washing it talces out the sweetness and flavor from it, 
makes it insipid and turns it rancid as soon as would any 
of tlie milk that may remain in it. We believe also that 
any water, hot or cold, put into the cream to alter the 
temperature when about to churn is injurious. Watered 
or washed butter will not keep. We are aware this is 
contrary to the practice and opinions of many, who will 
assert that buttermilk cannot be got out except by wash- 
ing, and their butter will not keep without. We can only 
say this is not our experience, nor of the best butter- 
makers of Chester county. 

If your spring or well is hard water, save enough ice to 
melt as wanted from rivers or streams, though the water 
may be hard, as when melted it will be soft, as the lime of 
hard water never congeals with the ice. Save also rain- 
water, and then with ice you will have it sufficiently cool 
to wash your butter, if that is your practice. The best way 
to wash it is when the butter is gathered in the churn — 
that is, when it separates from the buttermilk and forms 
lumps — the buttermilk should all be drawn off and cold 
water added ; then the whole must be agitated or churned, 
and this water then be drawn off, and so on until the water 
ceases to look white. This serves to harden the butter and 
to work out the milk. It is claimed by many that water 
and butter will not commingle ; but if they will not unify, 
the butter will hold the water to a small amount ; but this, 
when the salt is worked, will be brine, and should not 
taint the butter. 

The utmost moisture that should be found in thor- 
oughly worked butter is a very slight dew, and it should 
be of such a firm consistency as to slice down, hardly 
dimming the surface of a knife-blade. 



MARKETING BUTTER. 37 

MARKETING BUTTER. 

Marketing butter by many is thought to be the easiest 
part of the whole process, or the least important, judging 
by the manner in which it is done. But marketing it in 
the proper manner, or to make it the quickest selling, is 
half the battle. It should be put into the most inviting 
form to gain the best price. If the maker is near a market, 
and is about to retail it or sell it to those who are to retail 
it, it should be put into half-pound or pound lumps, and 
printed or stamped with some emblematic device, such as 
a sheaf of wheat, a cow, a beehive, or the maker's initials. 
After the final working, the scales are placed handy, and 
with the clapper a lump is cut off, placed upon the scales, 
and either added to or taken from, always being sure to 
give rather over than under a pound. It is then taken 
from the scale by one clapper in the right hand, and with 
the other clapper in the left, it is worked over into a ball 
by a few expert touches ; and while held on the left-hand 
clapper, the right-hand one having been exchanged for 
the stamp-mould, the mould is dipped in cold water to 
prevent its sticking to the lump, and then pressed firmly 
upon it, then withdrawn, leaving a beautiful raised im- 
pression of the stamp upon it, and adding to its attrac- 
tions. The fashion is now becomii.g prevalent of making 
the lumps square, which is more convenient for use and 
for packing in the market tray. It is also more convenient 
for the butter-maker, as it is done by a machine which 
squares and prints it at one operation, and also marks it, 
so that the consumer cuts it in four parts of about the 
right size for table, each piece being nicely stamped. 

When it is all stamped, it is set aside in a cold place to 
thoroughly harden ; in a tray in the spring-house water is 
best. When about to market it, each pound or roll is 
wrapped in a linen cloth taken out of ice-water or cold 



38 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

spring-water, and laid upon the shelf of the tray or tub. 
Some market men have a square box made with a sliding 
lid and several shelves. On these shelves the pounds of 
butter are placed, the lid is dropped down in its grooves, 
as the box stands upright on one end, with a handle to 
carry it by on the other. This is very nice for winter use, 
when the butter will keep hard until sold ; but for sum- 
mer use there is provided a large tub made of cedar, with 
an inner tin vessel, with a well in each end for broken ice, 
and shelves on each side of them, one above the other, ou 
which the butter is placed, and is removed as it is sold. 
The shelves are made of thin wood, and rest upon tin pro- 
jections on the sides about three inches apart. The wooden 
tub is cooled in ice- or spring-water while the tin vessel is 
being filled with the ice and butter. The tin is then set 
into the wooden vessel, the lid closed, and the whole en- 
veloped in a padded carpet covering made to fit, and again 
enclosed in an oil-cloth covering. It is thus effectually 
shielded from hot air and dust, and is opened out to the 
customer firm, cool and golden, and brings readily its 
seventy-five cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
pound, thus well paying for the extra care. Many put up 
their butter in rolls of five or ten or more pounds, and sell 
it so, sometimes wrapped in muslin, sometimes not ; but 
either way it never looks so nice and attractive as the 
nicely-stamped pound lumps, and of course does not bring 
so good a price. 

In general terms, it may safely bo said that the less pos- 
sibility there is of interfering with the condition of the but- 
ter from the time it leaves the dairy till it reaches the 
larder, the better for both producer and consumer. To 
alter the condition of butter by redressing or repacking is 
commercially culpable, whilst the introduction of any other 
substance, however innocuous, is fraudulent adulteration. 
To prevent both effectively is to pack the butter at the 



PACKING AND SHIPPING. 39 

dairy in the several quantities to suit the requirements of 
larger or smaller households or dealers. These packages 
ought only to be opened for examination as to quality ; 
the butter would in sach a way be fully protected from 
injury, and as it left the dairy so it reaches the larder. 

PACKING AND SHIPPING. 

Packing of the butter for shipping should be done not 
later than the third day. Be careful before packing there 
is no milky water runs from it, for as sure as it is packed 
with the least drop in the butter you will hear from it 
next March or April. Pack it down solid in stone jars if 
for your own winter use, or in firkins if for shipping. 
Sprinkle a little salt on the surface, and covering it with a 
thick, fine cloth, put on the lid and place the jar in a dry, 
cool place. It is better to fill the vessel with one churn- 
ing ; but if not able to do so, pack in each chui'ning solid, 
and exclude the air until it is full by pouring over it a 
strong brine, to be poured off when ready to be filled. If 
it is to be kept a long while or sent to sea, pour a little 
melted butter over the top of the jar before you put on the 
cloth. Butter put down this way in September or Octo- 
ber, when the weather is cool and the quality of food is 
best, will keep till next June as good as newly-churned 
butter. 

When exposed for sale, it is often found that the lower 
portion of the contents of the tub is the poorest, and the 
discovery of this fact causes not only a diminution of price 
on the whole package, but also suspicion of intended de- 
ception. Yet no deception has been intended. The dif- 
ference in qualit}' has arisen from improper management 
of the lower layers, the upper layer having been kept in 
good condition by carefully covering it with salt when 
placed in the tub. When forwarded to market in warm 
weather, this imperfectly-packed butter is placed in the 



40 BVTTEE AND BVTTER-MAKING. 

low temperature of an ice-car, and on its arrival at the city 
dejDot it is often unloaded and carted under a broiling sun. 

It is very important that it should be kept from the air, 
as an exposure to the atmosphere will spoil the best butter 
that ever was made in a very short time. For this reason 
wooden tubs are not desirable to pack in, unless for a short 
time, as they are not sufficient protection against the action 
of the atmosphere, and often of themselves destroy the 
flavor of that portion of butter which comes in contact 
with them to the depth of an inch or more. When they 
are used, they should be of hemlock or of oak, filled with 
boiling water, to remain till cool, then soaked in brine for 
two or three days, and after the brine is poured out the 
sides and bottom must be rubbed with fine salt. 

Makers of large quantities of butter, who store it and 
ship it when the market price is highest, after preparing 
the firkins as before described, pack the firkin full of but- 
ter, spread a, cloth over the top, do not let the cloth ex- 
pand over the sides, put in a layer of coarse Turk's 
Island salt, washed clean, upon the cloth, and put on tem- 
porary tops of round flat stones, as they keep the tempera- 
ture cooler and more even than any other cover. The 
firkins are then stored in a cool place, better on open 
joists where the air can jDass underneath them. When 
they are shipped for market, the cloth, with the salt, is 
lifted off", the firkin is turned down to let the brine drain 
off", the cloth, wrung out in brine, is replaced, and they 
are headed for market, where they arrive in sweet ni'^e 
order. 

Prof. Nyce's fruit-houses will keep butter any time pure 
and fresh, and large dealers will find it profitable to erect 
one for the purpose where all the requisites are cheap and 
plenty. 

For domestic use it is a good plan to pack it in stone 
crocks holding two or three gallons, in layers of such thick- 



B S 



l4 




PACKING AND SHIPPING. 41 

ness as will be convenient for use, sprinkling a little salt 
between each layer, or laying a cloth between and cov- 
ered with salt, to be lifted out for every new layer added ; 
and when using it, take out a layer and cover up the rest 
from contact with the air. Never work it after it has been 
packed, for it is injured by so doing, but use it just as you 
take it out. Continue until the crock is nearly full ; then 
cover closely with a fine muslin cloth, on which place a 
layer of salt half an inch thick ; then fill with strong brine 
and cover with a stone cover. The secret is, Keep it cold 
and exclude the air. 

If a family is small, and has bought say forty pounds, 
intending to make it last ten weeks, a profitable way, after 
a third or half is used, is to take all out, warm it a little, 
work over, but not overwork, adding two ounces of fine white 
sugar, a little salt and a little nitre to each five pounds ; 
make into half-pound balls, stamp them, cover with linen 
cloths, and keep where no dust will fall on them, and in a 
cold place. 

In families, or where the dairy is small, a good plan to 
have butter cool and firm without ice is by the process 
of evaporation, as practiced in India and other warm 
countries. A cheap plan is to get a very large sized 
porous earthen flower-pot with an extra large saucer. 
Half fill the saucer with water, set in it a trivet or light 
stand: such as is used for holding hot irons will do; upon 
this set your butter ; over the whole invert the flower-pot, 
letting the top rim of it rest in and be covered by the 
Avater; then close the hole in the bottom of the flower-pot 
with a cork ; then dash water over the flower-pot, and re- 
peat the process several times a day, or whenever it looks 
dry. If set in a cool place, or where the wind can blow 
on it, it will rapidly evaporate the water from the pot, 
and the butter will be as firm and cool as if from an ice- 
house. 



42 BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 

Another plan is recommended for preserving butter 
nearly fresh : After the butter is worked it is placed be- 
tween linen cloths and heavily pressed to remove the 
water and buttermilk that may be left. It is then wrapped 
in clean white paper, which has been coated on both sides 
with a preparation of white of egg and fifteen grains of salt 
to each egg, the paper then dried, and heated before the 
fire, or with a hot iron just before it is applied to the rolls 
of butter. The paper excludes the air, so that the butter 
will keep fresh for a long time in a cool place and without 
any more salt than usual. 

Butter-tubs nia3^be used again and again, just as well as 
pork barrels, provided the butter they contained has kept 
sweet and the tub not saturated with its rancidity. Even 
then it may be cleaned by washing it with moderately 
strong hot lye, and afterward soaking with clean cold 
water thoroughly. This cleansing should be done imme- 
diately after the tub has been emptied, as indeed it should 
in the case of pork-barrels, cider-barrels, and all other 
vessels in domestic use. 

BUTTER FROM WHEY. 

Excellent butter, fit for the table, is said to have been 
made from whey, and sold in the New York market, bringing 
the best price. The following are two receipts for making 
it, but we doubt whether it will pay well, and if so only 
at the factories, if properly managed. 

I. The Heating Process.— After separating the whey 
from the curd, place it in a tin vat and add a liquid acid, 
the vat with copper bottom and tin sides, about twelve 
feet long, three feet wide and twenty inches deep, or about 
these proportions ; set over a brick arch ; one gallon to the 
whey of fifty gallons of milk, if the whey is sweet, but less 
quantity if changed. Then bring it to a heat of 210°. 
When the cream rises and is skimmed off" and placed in a 



COMPARATIVE PROFITS OF BUTTER-MAKING. 43 

cool place, let it stand till next day. Then churn at a 
temperature of 56° to 68°, depending on the weather ; work 
and salt it as usual. It will produce about one pound of 
butter from the whey of one hundred and fifty pounds of 
milk. The acid is made by taking any quantity of whey 
at boiling-heat after the cream is extracted, adding one 
gallon of strictly sour whey to ten gallons of this boiling 
whey, when all the caseine remaining in the whey is col- 
lected together in one mass, and is skimmed off. After 
the whey is allowed to stand from twenty-four to forty- 
eight hours, it is ready for use as acid. This process is re- 
peated as often as necessity requires. 

II. The Cooling Process. — Take a vessel made of zinc, 
or at least with a zinc bottom, about fifteen inches high, 
three feet wide and as long as desired ; set the vessel in 
cold water and put in the whey, with a handful of salt to 
every ten gallons of whey. During the first two hours stir 
it up thoroughly from the bottom every fifteen minutes j 
afterward let it stand quiet for about twenty hours, and 
then skim it ; then churn the cream, keeping it at about 
58°. If above 60°, cool it; if below 56°, warm it. Churn 
it until the butter becomes granulated about the size of 
kernels of buckwheat. Let it stand about five minutes, 
then let the buttermilk run off; then throw on cold water. 
If not hard enough, let it stand until it becomes so before 
it is stirred much. Then rinse with cold water until it 
runs off clear; then churn together or "gather" it; press 
the water out, salt it, one pound to eighteen or twenty, 
and let it stand till next day ; then work it until it becomes 
perfectly even in color. Get it ready for market. 

COMPARATIVE PROFITS OF BUTTER-MAKING. 

Of the four ways of realizing from milk — butter, cheese, 
condensed milk and milk for family use — butter, if -prop- 
erly rnade, is the most profitable. In the form of con- 



44 



BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 



densed milk, at prices hitherto obtained, a quart of milk 
reduced by evaporation to one-fourth its bulk yields about 
half a pound in weight and realizes fifteen cents, at the 
rate of three dollars and fift}^ cents per dozen for pound 
cans ; from which deduct one-third for cans and manufac- 
turing, leaving ten cents per quart for the milk. At fifteen 
cents for cheese, requiring four and a half quarts for a 
pound, and forty-five cents for butter, requiring eleven 
quarts, the product would realize four cents per quart for 
cheese and four and a half cents for butter, less cost of 
making; and if butter and skim-cheese are made, it will 
show five cents per quart. Where the milk is sold and 
the butter is sold, both being near good markets and both 
of good quality, butter at fifty cents pays a better profit, 
equal to ten per cent. The superior manner in which 
cheese has been made of late years has more than trebled 
the foreign and home demand for it, and consequently, as 
the increase of the manufacture of butter has not increased 
with the population, there is a scarcity of butter, and the 
prices have risen proportionately. 

BUTTER FACTORIES. 

Creameries, or factories where butter or butter and 
cheese are made, are now rapidly increasing, and farmers 
and consumers are to be congratulated upon the fact; 
for where the creameries are properly managed — and they 
will not pay if they are not — the butter will be of superior 
character to the same quantity made by many hands. 

The most profitable mode of conducting a creamery in 
a neighborhood where there are a number of dairy farms 
is for routes to be laid out and the wagons of the factory 
to call at morning and evening and collect all the milk on 
the route. The routes should not be longer than can be 
collected in one trip or the wagon can take. The milk 
is all put into vats and allowed to stand over-night, at a 



BUTTER FACTORIES. 45 

temperature of 60'', and is then skimmed and made into 
butter, while the new milk of the morning is added to the 
skim-milk and the whole made into cheese. Skim-milk 
cheese has not heretofore ranked as very good, but greater 
care and knowledge in making it has elevated the market- 
price of it. The net returns to the farmers contributing 
milk to the creameries has thus far yielded them from 
three and a half to four and a half cents. 

The details of butter-making in the creameries must be, 
and is, so nearly what we have already described in the 
previous pages that it is not worth while to devote more 
space to it, everything being conducted similarly, but only 
on a larger scale. The advantages to the farmer to have 
a creamery in his neighborhood are so great that we can 
only urge him to look into the matter. The creamery will 
save himself and family a large amount of labor, and 
bring him larger and more reliable returns, as the cream- 
eries that make good butter will soon make a name and 
price for their manufactures and always command a ready 
sale at the best market-prices. The merchants and dealers 
in large cities have avenues of sale which the small maker 
cannot reach, and would much prefer to have the highest 
price butter to deal in, and in the largest quantities. 

Farmers can unite and establish a creamery in their 
vicinity on the joint-stock plan, with a superintendent to 
manage it, and dividing the profits and liabilities among 
themselves; or it can be established by an enterprising 
man among them who will either make the butter for so 
much per pound, or who will purchase the milk direct on 
his own account. 

Before entering into it, it will be well to examine some 
that are already established and have a good reputation 
and ascertain particulars ; such as, in the East, the Frank- 
lin Creamery, at Franklin, Delaware county. New York, 
four miles from the line of the Albany and Susquehanna 



46 



BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 



Railroad ; and in the West, the Elgin Butter Factory, at 

Elgin, Illinois. 

CONCLUSION. 

We have shown in the preceding essay how to make a 
prime quality of butter; and we now state that while a 
fair article of tub-butter sells for from thirty to fifty cents, 
and a vast quantity is sold, perhaps, for not more than 
half of even these prices, there is at the same time an 
increasing, though yet small comparatively, quantity that 
is selling from seventy-five cents to one dollar per pound. 
The relative prices are so widely apart because there is 
too much of the one and too little of the other, and be- 
cause there is too little care taken in making the one and 
great care taken in producing the other, the one yielding 
no profit in the production and the other affording a 
handsome one. It is practicable for producers of butter 
in the United States to increase its average price ten cents 
per pound, and this enhancement would put in their 
purses one hundred millions of dollars. This is too large 
a sum to pay for ignorance, carelessness and lack of clean- 
liness. Reader, will you resolve to do your share in 
gaining your part of this great sum ? 

We append some of the most recent statistics relating to 
butter : 

Milch-Cows and Butter Products in the United States for 
Three Decades. 



Years. 


Cows. 


Butter. 


1870 
1860 
1850 


Number. 
8,935,332 
8,585,735 
6,385,094 


Pounds. 
514,092,683; 
459,681,372 
313,345,306 



These figures are from the census reports, and are, of 
course, only approximately true, the fact being that they 
should be about twice as large in amount, from the difii- 



CONCLUSION. 



47 



culty of collecting over so large a surface the exact figures. 
The increase of cows from 1850 to 18G0 was thirty-four per 
cent., and from 1860 to 1870 only four per cent. The 
production of butter increased during the first decade 
nearly forty-six per cent., increase of population thirty- 
five and a half per cent. ; and less than twelve per cent., 
during the second, increase of population twenty-two and 
a half per cent. For the twenty years from 1850 to 1870 
the increase of the butter product was sixty-four per cent., 
increase of population sixty-six per cent. The exports of 
butter during four years were — 



Years. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 


2,079,751 
8,568,012 
5,044,227 
4,074,657 


$570,432 

1,606,239 

1,041,032 

947,986 



The census exhibits for 1850, 1860 and 1870, collated 
with statistics of exports and imports, show for each indi- 
vidual an average yearly consumption of butter ranging 
from thirteen and a half to fourteen and a half pounds, the 
lattei figures being for the middle period, or that of 1860. 

Prof Willard estimates the average annual yield of milk 
per cow at eighteen hundred quarts, of an average value 
of two and a third cents per quart. At this rate our cows 
in 1873 produced 19,269,540,000 quarts, worth $449,622,600, 
which estimate is very nearly carried out by one of Mr. 
Willard's of the quantity and value of our dairy products 
for 1873. Tlius— 

Milk consumed as food, at 2J cts. per quart $213,000,000 

Condensed milk 1,000,000 

Butter, 700,000,000 lbs., at 25 cts. per lb 175,000,000 

Cheese, 240,000,000 lbs., at 12 cts. per lb 28,800,000 

"Whey, sour milk, etc., converted into pork 10,000,000 

Total. $427,800,000 



48 



BUTTER AND BUTTER-MAKING. 



The total amount approximated $430,000,000 ; in 1874 
it will vastly exceed these figures. Nearly the whole bulk 
of this enormous production is consumed at home. Only 
low grades of butter are sent abroad. Our total export of 
butter, cheese and condensed milk in 1873 amounted to 
$12,939,320. 

The following averages of milk required for one pound 
of butter are the results of careful tests made during one 
week in each month from March, 1871, to January, 1872, 
inclusive. Herd of high-grade short-horns : 



March 12.5 quarts. 

April 12.4 " 

May 12. " 

June 12.2 " 



July 12.2 quarts. 

August 15. " 

September 12. " 
October.... 11.7 " 



November.11.5 quarts. 
December. 9.8 " 
January ...10. " 



PRICE, 25 CENTS. 



BUTTER 



BUTTER MAKING, 



WITH THE 



BEST METHODS 



PRODUCING AND MARKETING IT. 



BY 

WILLIS P. HAZARD, 

PRESIDENT OF THE CIIADD'S FORD FARMERS' CLUB, AUTHOR OP "THE 
JERSEY, ALDERNEY AND GUERNSEY' COW," ETC. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
POETEE & COATES, 

No. 822 CHESTNUT STREET. 



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